whistle and bango. postcode bangles from www.whistleandbango.com
"postcode pride" was a very new thing for me when i moved to london. not that i've never lived somewhere where people are so generally piled together, categorized and treated based on the area they live or grew up in, but back home, it was more a south vs north, east vs west, city vs country type malarkey. in london it's a whole new ballgame. i suppose the cult hits that are 'made in chelsea' and 'the only way is essex' really help drive home those competitive communities (if you can call them that), evidencing the way a group of people will perceive others based on their neighbourhood ("go back to dagenham, you slaaaaaag!", or, "she doesn't even live in chelsea, she's from fulham!" - for those playing at home, they're about a mile apart). it's all very...loyalist.
since i moved to london, i've only ever lived south east. when i meet and tell new people where i live, it's always the same three questions; 1. why? 2. how far from greenwich? 3. how do you get around without the tube? well, let me clear the air. 1. because it's green, spacious, and has great jerk chicken connections. 2. no, actually lewisham, if you really must know. 3. i get to work in 18 minutes without the aid of a stuffy tube or overcrowded bus; what's your journey like?
i've lived s/e for the last three years, and i love it. i'm quick to defend my 'ends' when people start the old postcode battle, but at the same time, i don't care or know enough about the 'cool codes' to really retaliate with much other than 'cool story bro'. so when i received a press release from chelsea it-girl ashley james' new brand whistle and bango promoting their new range of postcode bangles and info on how to vote for the next postcode to add to the collection, of course i voted se6 because of my own postcode pride (and maybe se1 too, because i love borough), and because it would be nice to see the south east as represented as some of the other niche codes are in the collection.
do you suffer from postcode pride too? what postcode will you vote for?
